For the mounting of planetary gearwheels of a planetary stage of a wind power transmission, conical roller bearings in an O-arrangement have been found particularly advantageous. In this case the bearings of the planetary gearwheels are designed without an outer race. Instead, the outer bearing surface of the bearings are formed by the planetary gearwheels, i.e. in each case an outer race of a bearing and a planetary gearwheel are integrated in one piece.
During assembly the bearings, consisting of an inner race, the rolling elements and a bearing cage, are first introduced into the planetary gearwheels. Together with the bearings the planetary gearwheels are positioned on the planetary carrier so that the fitting of the planetary bolts can take place.
The introduction of the bearings into the planetary gearwheels has been found problematic. Since the rolling elements in wind power machines are very large and correspondingly heavy, there is a risk that the outer bearing surfaces of the bearings in the planetary gearwheels may be damaged. In particular, the current prior art provides no way of preventing small dents and scratches from being produced in the bearing surfaces during assembly. During the operation of a wind power machine such defects can develop into bearing damage and therefore increase the risk of failure.